Knowing the scientific Gestalt Laws of Perception will help the designer to create harmonious, energetic spaces. Such knowledge not only helps in arranging the furniture and picking out colors of rugs and fabric but also attending to the geometric scaffolding that is a major part of metaphysical design.
Gestalt Laws of Organization
Law of Pragranz
In the Law of Pragnanz (also known as the Law of Good Figure or the Law of Simplicity, the most important of all the Gestalt laws), every stimulus pattern is seen in such a way that the resulting structure is as uncomplicated as possible. When presented with a set of ambiguous objects, the brain will make them as simple as possible.
Example: If we look at the black figure on the left, it appears to us as a triangle overlapping a rectangle, the simplest visual explanation. We would never say we saw it as an eleven-sided figure.
Message for decorators:
“The eye” seeks a simple view. A cluttered field of vision puts more stress on the human organism, for the brain will always attempt to find an uncomplicated scene. Minimalism is more calming, and some or all of its aspects are desired ways of decorating. A less cluttered approach also makes it easier to create harmonious scaffoldings.
In reality, though, most of us cannot afford to be minimalist because we live or work in smaller places, own and manage many objects, and deal with the paraphernalia of daily life. In further lessons, I show ways ways to trick the eye into perceiving simplicity
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Law of Similarity
The Law of Similarity – Similar things appear to be grouped together. Groupings can be formed from any visual similarity such as lightness, orientation, size, height, texture and especially color. Despite the fact that the Law of Similarity can be trumped by other gestalt laws, it is quite useful because it can reach across large spaces which is a perfect tool in decorating.
Example: If we look at figures a & b, we perceive the diagram a as vertical columns and horizontal rows of gray flowers. The second figure, diagram b, is perceived only as vertical columns of red flowers and gray flowers because this law states that people perceive similar things together.
Message for decorators:
The brain seeks to group similar things. Placing like things in different parts of the room will cause the eye to move to each similar item. Properly placed, the objects can get the eye to move in a manner revealing a geometric scaffolding which is pleasing to that part of us that engenders beauty.
The most dominant of all similar items is color. [2] Decorators make two mistakes:
- Using no dominant color, which makes the eye struggle to find similar things, disappointing that part of us that looks for patterns.
- Using too many colors, which makes the eye bounce all over the place, working overtime. Instead of the eye moving in a pleasurable circle, it will experience the subliminal scaffolding of a three-year-old child playing with an Etch-a-Sketch.
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Law of Proximity
The Law of Proximity or Nearness (things near each other appear to be grouped together. Placing objects together will cause the eye to see all these objects as one thing (one fixation).
You should see three groups of flowers due to the Law of Proximity. The nearness of the flowers is stronger than the color similarity. Proximity is a very strong law and can topple similarity.
Message for decorators:
Remember the fixations create a form but that form might then become the fixation of a larger form. What appears as a form, composed of details, can become the detail of another form. Think small and big.
Consider everything in your visual field as one or the other depending on the reference to other objects. The more we can take various things the eye sees as many details (fixations) and make them appear as one detail or fixation of a larger form, a sense of minimalism takes place. You do not have to get rid of a lot of things to have a more serene environment. You just have to move some of them around so they appear closer to each other. The Law of Proximity is a good starting point.
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The Law of Common Region
The Law of Common region (or Law Uniform Connectedness or Law of Unity) states that when things are located in the same closed region, we perceive them as belonging to the same group. Creating a clear boundary around a group of objects (fixations) gathers them as one fixation. The Law of Common Region is similar to the Law of Proximity but strengthened by the use of a border.
Adding borders or other visible barriers makes the flowers roses (fixations) on the right appear as one group (one fixation) and the six flowers on the left as one group (one fixation) even though they are very near other objects that have the same color and shape.
Message for decorators:
A group of details can appear unconnected and visually noisy. The problem can be solved if we use the Law of Common Region. There was a recent online tip from the magazine Real Simple which reflects on this law. [3]There is always a clutter counter someplace in the home where keys, mail, broken objects and other paraphernalia land. Real Simple suggests putting a tray on the counter for all the items to make it appear clutter free because all the details (fixations) of clutter are now seen in one form (one fixation) as the filled tray. Now the tray becomes a detail in the larger room, so it might have to be addressed but in the meantime, the surface that used to gather clutter is perceived in a calmer manner.
Consider using trays to corral framed photos scattered on a desk or table, spice and condiment bottles near the kitchen stove or toiletry bottles near the bathroom sink. One can further diminish the cognitive load by making the items on the tray similar. Consider using the same colored frames on the tray or same type of bottles or jars in the kitchen or bathroom.. Now we have engaged the Law of Simplicity along with the Law of Common Region.
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The Law of Closure
The Law of Closure states that the brain may see things it does not perceive through sensation to complete a regular figure, perceiving things as belonging to the same group if they seem to complete some entity. When the brain processes a complex arrangement of visual things, it tries to find a single recognizable pattern and organizes our perceptions into complete objects.
The Law of Closure is what was used in the Old Professors Theorem. There was one dominant spot, two subdominant spots and one left empty. The brain would then close the spot as a circle. Closing a form is a very pleasurable experience for the subliminal self. This theorem will be used in later lessons in decorating a wall or room.
According to the philosopher, Dr. Maheshwari, “Closure is dangerous, volatile, seductive, hypnotic and even playful. It works to show us an image that does not actually exist before our eyes; it reaches into our experience and into our psyche to create a fiction and compels us to believe it.” [3]
Advertisers know how pleasing the law of closure is. Look at different corporate logos that use the law.
Message for decorators:
Allow some empty space to exist to create energetic design. When the Victorian Age emerged in the mid 1800s, a new way of decorating emerged. It is often referred to as the Victorian style but it is really the use of an overabundance of styles. The Industrial Revolution fueled this nightmare because goods were now cheap and plentiful. The result was to accumulate as much as possible and fill every nook and cranny with items of conspicuous consumption.
Much has been written about Victorian interior design, but the best description is given by the Italian critic Mario Praz. He described the Victorian design movement as one of having “horror vacui” or fear of open spaces.
The atmosphere in this environment was suffocating, and the scaffolding was downright irritating. If one were to draw the connections of the multiple eye fixations, it would look like a rapid ping-pong game.
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Leaving some spaces empty is essential to decorating harmoniously. We need to leave something for the brain to experience the pleasure of closing.
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The Law of Good Continuation
In the Law of Good Continuation or continuity, points, when connected, result in straight or smoothly curving lines seen as belonging together; they are seen in such a way as to follow the smoothest path: “The human eye prefers to see a continuous flow of visual elements rather than separated objects.”
Example: The eye follows the of series of black and red flowers along the curve and the series of points along the straight line. The eye does not follow similar colors. The Law of Good Continuation trumps the Law of Similarity.
Message for decorators:
“The eye” wants to see continuity and a smooth transition of points. Conversely, a jagged line, when imposed on the human organism, is tedious and disconcerting for the human perception system. When the decorator places similar things throughout the room that follows what “the eye” wants to see, a smooth path, the external world corresponds to the internal needs of the subliminal self, resulting in visual harmony.
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The Principle of Focal Point
A focal point is a point of interest, emphasis, or difference that will capture and hold the viewer’s attention. The focal point captures our attention and tells our eye where to start creating the scaffolding. From there, our attention flows to other parts of the design.
Message for decorators:
Creating a focal point in our decorating is something that grabs attention as others enter our space and allows their eyes to start the journey to find the subliminal geometric forms.
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Think Small and Big
The eye travels along a set of limited fixations to perceive an object. It seeks simplicity, similarity, continuity and wholeness, yet is stressed by complications, a lack of connection, and a jagged path. Such scientific principles are explained by the Gestalt Laws of perception.
A lot of words are associated with understanding visual perception and aesthetics and are often used interchangeably. For practical purposes, we can think small and big. Small words are “sensation, fixation, pixel, ornament, dot, element, detail,” while big words are “form, thing, object, painting, interior, exterior, element, room, building.”
We can remember that the “big” can become the small “fixation” of something larger. As our eyes travel to each fixation, a geometric pattern is formed, which is usually experienced subliminally (or consciously if given attention).
Back to Metaphysics
The point of metaphysical decorating is to get energy into our environment, not a scientific idea but one that can borrowed from the Gestalt laws. Organizing stimuli to create a smooth path, reducing stimuli and cognitive load, and setting up our objects to become fixations can create templates based on nature, producing the energy we crave. Many geometric blueprints are based on nature. My favorite and the easiest one to use is circular, revealing subliminal circles and ovals as the scaffolding.
Still, another pattern, though a more complicated one, gives us a good idea why energy is released though decorating. That pattern is the golden proportion. Going back to the scaffolding of the rose, we can see the structure of the rose petals are placed to follow the golden mean, a proportion that is 1 to 1.618…For more information on this proportion, see the blog, Understanding the Golden Proportion.
If we look at the rose, we can compare it to a picture of our DNA. Even though they look different, in reality, they are the same because of the same mathematical underpinnings.
When we compare the scaffolding of the rose to our DNA, we are looking at the same mathematical underpinnings. When we look at a rose, we are looking at ourselves. Likewise, our body down to the structure of our DNA is the same as the Milky Way Galaxy. Our eye lashes are equal via the mathematical underpinnings to the curve of a wave, which is why good designers seek out the mathematical structure behind nature and try to duplicate it in their art.
When we look at the scaffolding of the rose, we are looking at the mathematics of creation. That is the source of energy.
These geometric forms and mathematical underpinnings can be powerful. An article in Time Magazine reviewed various studies on the effects of nature on health. Such research revealed that nature lowers blood pressure, increases creativity, promotes cancer fighting cells, helps with ADHD symptoms as well as depression and anxiety. Even using a window looking out at trees or a plant had an effect. Most significantly, an artificial image can even have a positive outcome.
We have to ask about the similarity between a real tree or poster of a tree, a real potted plant or a silk reproduction. Perhaps the reproductions stimulate the brain to create the same positive biochemical reactions that the live objects did. Or maybe there is another answer. Perhaps the healing forces are the mathematical underpinning of the geometry that is the scaffolding of both.
Can geometry heal? I believe it can.
I believe the subliminal self is searching for itself when it scans the details (or fixations) to arrive at form (or the object). It is in the scanning process that “the eye” moves in patterns. When that pattern corresponds with patterns of nature, the self recognizes the patterns of creation. In essence, it recognizes itself. The eye is not just a machine, but a scavenger of meaning. The ego is looking for the object, but the subliminal self is looking for the mathematics of nature; in essence, looking for a mirror of the self.
When such profundity happens, a wonderful thing takes place. The Self receives a tremendous jolt of energy. Sometimes we call it chi; sometimes beauty. It is powerful.
When the Self can find these patterns of nature, it becomes the movement of a dance. For that reason, one of the ways to decorate for energy, harmony and happiness is to give the eye a chance to experience a beautiful movement…to let the eyes have a pleasurable dance.
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There are two parts to this website, The Lessons which are more difficult in concept and the blogs which are lighter in nature. Blogs that you might enjoy which have the same theme as Lesson Four are:
Please note that my website allows you to leave comments at the end of the blogs but not at the end of each lesson. If you have a comment or question about a lesson, you may email me at ruta@rutas-rules.com
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[1] E. Bruce Goldstein. Sensation and Perception, Third Edition. Wadsworth Publishing Company. Belmont, California. 1980.
[2] In esoteric and mainstream books on color, a great deal of attention is given to the “energy” of color. In this book, color is treated only as a sensation that leads the eye to form a certain scaffolding.
[3] Dr. V.K.Maheshwari, M.A(Socio, Phil) B.Sc. M. Ed, Ph.D. Gestalt Theory – The Insight Learning. January 27, 2015.